


Interlude after the End

by BeastOfTheSea



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dark!Harry, Dumbledore Bashing, F/F, Girl!Harry Potter, femmeslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-16 10:15:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2265942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeastOfTheSea/pseuds/BeastOfTheSea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few short scenes for Hallie Potter after the end of the war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interlude after the End

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a Girl!Harry fic. Oddly enough, I ship girl!Harry/Ginny even though I don't ship boy!Harry/Ginny. Anyway...
> 
> This is also a bit of an experiment for me. I focused on individual settings rather than the overall flow. Turned out... different than usual. More episodic. Anyway, hope you like it.
> 
> And yes, this is slightly AU from if-Harry-was-a-girl-and-nothing-else changed. Sorry, I really like the dark!Harry plot model. :P Dumbledore didn't deserve to get off easy...

She couldn't remember the last time she slept. 

Voldemort's army lay in ruins far below the battlements. What Death Eaters hadn't defected before the final battle were now sure to spend their days in prison – though at least it was a kinder prison than Azkaban. Wands taken, rooms warded… Lovely place, actually. They'd based the jail on certain rooms of the St. Mungo's Sealed Ward. With a dash of inspiration from Nurmengard, to be sure.

She didn't know how many of her own were dead. The medallion glowing around her neck let her know that her Inner Circle all lived, though some had sustained injuries. She had no idea of their families.

The ache of magical exhaustion filled her arms. She could still cast spells, but only at the level of an ordinary witch. Exerting herself beyond that would put her on bedrest for a week. If she was lucky. Tom Riddle's entire scheme in the year of the basilisk had been to drain Ginny's magic until she died from it.

Ginny…

"Sorry I couldn't get away before now," a brusque voice announced from behind her. "You wouldn't believe what it's like down there." Hallie bit back a chuckle at the irritation in her next words. "Isn't the worst of the chaos supposed to be _during_ the fight?"

Strong arms wrapped around her, and Hallie relaxed back into the embrace of her lieutenant. "Dear Mordred," she uttered. "All I want to do is _sleep_."

Ginny snorted, burying her face in Hallie's messy hair. "You'd better put on your Cloak, then. The House-Elves will be coming after you soon, the way Kreacher's going on about you."

"With allies like these…"

"Well, you don't have any enemies any more. We've seen to that."

Hallie tilted her head back and looked at Ginny. "Voldemort fell to Neville." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

The dark-haired girl gave a bitter laugh. "Dumbledore was a fool to the end."

"Maybe." Ginny grinned in a way that would make Sirius proud. "Luna has a theory…"

"I know. Wrong Dark Lord, Dumbledore." Hallie ducked her head again. "Do you really think he qualified as one, though?"

"After all he did to you? After all he did to the _entire school?_ " Ginny squeezed her tighter. "Hallie, how can you even–"

"No, I didn't mean that. The remorse is gone now." Hallie rested her hands on Ginny's arms, staring at the horizon. The sunset covered the world in darkening red. Behind the clouds, it glowed like a bloody eye… "I mean, was he actually Dark? The lowest of bastards, yes. But one who worshipped the Light like it would redeem everything he'd done ten times over."

"He worshipped the _form_ of the Light."

"Did he even know the difference? He certainly thought not declaring himself to be a Lord wiped away his _being_ a _de facto_ Lord." Hallie shook her head. "He never did anything Dark, though. No Dark spells, no Dark intentions… Even his megalomania was bent around the conviction that he did it for the good of all."

Ginny knew her well enough to almost read her mind. "And you think he honestly meant it?"

"He did. If I ever knew him, he did." Hallie gazed off into the middle distance. "He wasn't just saying it to convince the masses."

_Like we are._

"Then he was mad."

"Oh, I'm not denying that. But he was a Light madman, and not even a real Lord." She sighed and closed her eyes. "The Dark's better for England," she said after a little while. "If the Light has no one better than Dumbledore was, they deserve to die off."

"What about Aberforth?"

Hallie gave a rude snort, and Ginny took that as her cue to stop holding in her snickers. "Really, now," Hallie said, reaching back and smacking Ginny's upper arm. "If you want to torture the man, Ginny, just be honest about it and Cruciate him. Don't subject him to _leadership_."

"Can't you imagine, though?" Ginny said, grinning widely. "The Order of the Goat?"

" _Please_. Let the Light die with some pretense of _dignity_."

Hallie twisted around in Ginny's embrace, and the red-haired girl took that as her signal to loosen her grip enough to let Hallie turn all the way around and draw her down for a kiss. As Ginny pressed her back against the stone crenelations, their bodies fitting against each other perfectly, Hallie moaned.

"I _missed_ this," she gasped against Ginny's lips.

"I know," Ginny responded several seconds later, coming up for air. Her hands began on the fastenings on the top of Hallie's robes. "Oh, Merlin, I missed you too."

* * *

Ginny arrived in the Room of Requirement, carrying the Dark Lady of England bridal-style in her arms. "Quiet," she said to the few others in the room as she deposited Hallie upon the comfiest sofa. The dark-haired girl smiled obliviously and held onto her arm, mumbling incoherently in her sleep. "She's got a lot of resting to do."

"You've got no bloody idea," Ron grumbled, looking over the scrolls unfurled in front of him at the great desk. "The goblins are already 'renegotiating' their alliance, the werewolves formerly under Greyback are still trying to refuse Remus's authority, and I'm halfway minded to lock the vampires in a room full of garlic."

" _Ronald!_ "

"What?" Ron said, glancing up at Hermione. "It's the truth. Wouldn't kill them, either, just make them appreciate life on the outside a little more. Unlife. Whichever. You've got to admit, they're getting on your nerves too."

"They're still our people."

"If you start lecturing about giving them three solid blood meals a week, every week –"

" _Quiet_ , you two." Ginny finished tucking Hallie under a heavy cloak. "I told you, she needs her rest." Under her breath, she muttered, "Sometimes I think you're getting married because you're the only ones who deserve each other."

"I heard that," Ron said.

"Good. You were supposed to."

* * *

Cold wind whipped through the cemetery at Godric's Hollow. Hallie could have blocked the winds and kept herself warm with ease, but she chose to let it bite into her and drive her hands deeper into her coat. It was bracing. It seemed appropriate for the occasion.

"Are you proud of me?" she asked the effigies on the stone. "Well – you were Light. To the core. So I've heard enough people say you would be ashamed of what I've become. But –"

Her gaze traveled to her father's stone face. "You were a real toerag, Dad," she said, with a trace of filial pride. "Hex-happy wretch, too. So I think perhaps you weren't as adverse to the Dark as they said. Just adverse to those who followed it, back in your day."

She looked to her mother's statue. "And you, Mum – you could be pretty ruthless, couldn't you?" She gave a sharp laugh. "Severus deserved it. I just mean that perhaps I got it from you."

Then came the final effigy. Taking a deep breath, she swallowed past the pain in her chest and turned to the stone dog, crouched by the burial mound clumsily added next to the Potters' memorial. "What about you, Sirius?" she asked, her voice wavering. "I mean – I know you didn't like. What I was doing." She gave a tight smile. "And it got a whole lot worse after you were gone."

The wind sounded like something howling. She took another deep breath. "Still – you said you'd love me no matter what. And I _did_ – do a lot of good things. Dumbledore's meddling in no one else's affairs every again. The Ministry's getting reformed. The old families tremble in their over-inherited boots. And, of course, the Death Eaters are gone. Though – Neville finished off the Dark Lord himself. Neville Longbottom? Remember him? Not sure what you'd think of that."

She scuffed at the ground with one foot. "So. I mean." She shrugged. "I may not have done good things to get this far, and there's worse to come. The Wizarding world's a bloody mess. And I don't just mean England. Someone's got to clean it up." She swallowed. Under her breath, she added, "If we're to survive."

She took a step back, regarding the effigy. "I think it was worth it," she said quietly. "And I don't think there was any other way. I don't know what you think, Sirius, Mum, Dad, but – _I'm_ proud of me."

Ginny placed a hand on her shoulder, and Hallie looked up. " _I'm_ proud of you," the red-haired witch said in a voice just above a whisper.

Hallie stood on her tiptoes and pressed a light kiss to her lips. "Thanks," she said, smiling. "I love you, too."

After casting one last look at the gravestones, she took Ginny's hand, and together they left the cemetery.


End file.
